Freight train 1, pickup truck 0

By Cleve Wiese

Published: April 29, 2008

Increased train traffic translates to higher risk for drivers at railroad crossings such as the one outside Crimora where a 20-car freight slammed into a truck Tuesday.
“People don’t realize that there are more trains now than there were five years ago,” Carol Steckbeck, spokeswoman for Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization that promotes railroad safety. “There’s more of a likelihood that you’ll encounter a train at a crossing.”
Tommy Taylor Carter, 46, of Marshall, Fauquier County, told police he didn’t notice an oncoming Norfolk Southern Railroad train when he pulled his 2003 Toyota Tacoma onto the tracks at the Forestry Center Lane Crossing just off Route 340, authorities said.
The impact spun Carter’s truck 360 degrees before it rolled into a culvert and came to rest on its right side, said Paul Jordan, 53, who lives about 100 feet from the crossing and witnessed the crash. Carter was treated at Augusta Medical Center for minor injuries, police said. No one else was hurt. Police charged Carter with reckless driving. Carter lifted himself out of the vehicle, but did not respond to offers of help, Jordan said.
“He seemed like he was so stunned he couldn’t answer.”
The accident occurred at 10:25 a.m. about two miles north of Crimora.
The Roanoke-bound freight train was traveling about 30 mph on the Shenandoah Line, which runs from Roanoke to Front Royal and passes through Waynesboro, said Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern. About 15 trains travel that stretch of track each day – an increase of two to three trains per day over the last two years, Chapman said.
It was the second area crossing accident in four months. A 24-year-old Waynesboro woman and her 4-year-old son were injured Dec. 23 when an Amtrak train hit her car at a crossing on North Poplar Avenue in Waynesboro. The woman was charged with reckless driving.
The Forestry Center Lane crossing – about 200 feet from Route 340 on a road leading to the Augusta Forestry Center complex – is owned by the Virginia Forestry Department and is marked with a stop sign and a “Beware of Train” sign. It is among 475 public crossings in Virginia that lack flashing lights or gates, according to Federal Railroad Administration statistics.
Virginia Department of Transportation officials consider sight distance, traffic volume and the presence of school buses or trucks carrying hazardous material when determining what type of warning system to install at a public crossing, said Ralph Barret, VDOT rail projects program manager. Funding also comes into play, he said.
“Once you get the empirical data for a crossing, you’ve got to weigh in against all the crossings across the state of Virginia and consider how many lights and gates you have funding to install in a given year,” Barret said.
Crossings marked only with signs are not necessarily the most dangerous, Chapman said. Half of all car-train collisions – including the Dec. 23 accident in Waynesboro – take place at crossings with gates or lights, according to federal statistics. 
“Whether there is a signal or not, the driver needs to be aware that any time is train time,” Chapman said. “Freight trains don’t run on particular schedules and you can’t predict when they’re going to pass through.”